[SCP-6968] Act Five: Warzone (Part-1)

Day Ten

8 km from the nearest major Ursine city

9:00 AM

Lu knows that his uniform smells a little and the white is now stained with dirt and sweat from pushing the truck out when it got stuck. A lot.

It has been six days since they had left the barn and they haven't stopped for a long while now. It has been a monotonous drive passing through gray lands occasionally broken up by dead forests and abandoned villages; the ever present sharp black crystals dotting the landscape. The weather shifts gradually from sunshine to gloomy clouds to rain to even light snow and back. The suspension on the small 4x4 GAZ knock-off (it certainly looks similar to ones he saw as charred wrecks on the side of Afghan roads) does little to smooth out the bumpy ride due to the rather poor conditions of the road, if you could even call it that.

Even then; he manages to get some adequate sleep...reminds him of how he napped in the back of the lead Humvee back when he was a jarhead in Afghanistan, going out on combat patrol. And how Valton would always make...no; he can't just dig it up now.

Especially now.

He looks around the truck; there is Steve and Iris, who are talking to each other in muted tones, there is Firewatch, her face looking like she's playing world-championship poker, then their new acquaintances; the SWEEP team.

There was their "squad leader", a rat woman called Scavenger; lugging around a rather large sword yet she's stealthy with it? Dunno, but she seems very tough; judging from that and her voice. Though wonder why she shows some rather...generous cleavage. Best not to stare too long or get said large blade up his anus.

The red wolf-gal who doesn't speak much but when she does speak, the words are colder than the Arctic. Named...Red. Very obvious really. Also, very agile, explaining how she was able to knock him down.

Platinum the archer. He hasn't seen her bow skills but judging from her company, it must be really good. Seems a bit...distant? Like she has all the time in the world. Reminds him of a...kuudere.

There were 8 people sitting on the tarp-covered truckbed yet Lu could only see 6. That's because Manticore, the true stealth specialist, is invisible to his eyes. Seems like she can control it but prefers to keep it on. Corroborates with Steve and Iris hearing her stammer a lot.

Then, finally, the only two males in this team. They're in the front, Quincy with his quasi-British accent and cat ears (cat guy!) and Chu-Ko-Nu...with his chu-ko-nu repeating crossbow. He hasn't seen them interact much due to them staying always at the front but he assumes they are no snobs at "dirty work" as well.

In short, a small yet deadly team.

Judging from their actions and the occasional chatter between them, they seem to be internal security for Rhodes Island. That doesn't bode well...especially with them saying that the quartet were being "escorted" back to RI; Firewatch to await punishment for going AWOL and the trio to be...well, he hoped that they won't get tossed into the brig or worse...

Escorts.

Yeah.

Well...at least he and Firewatch were able to keep their weapons and none of them were restrained.

But still...they were being "escorted".

Day Four

Somewhere in rural Bumfuck, Ursus

8:12 PM

Steve and Iris ran out of the barn to see what the hell was happening only to be stopped by what looks like a Kuranata with a compound bow in hand.

"Who the hell are you?!" Steve shouted as he raised his revolver. He saw Firewatch and Lu with two other people with...oh shit, Lu seems to be pinned down by someone in red. Firewatch was disarmed by someone dressed in black; and they were looking back towards them.

"Please drop your weapon," the Kuranata said calmly.

"No, YOU drop yours or I'l-whoa!" Steve exclaimed as his revolver was knocked away from his hand by a seemingly invisible force and flung away into a bale of wet hay.

Then a very soft and meek voice rang out; "Please...do not...resist..."

Steve and Iris turned around and Steve tripped and fell to the ground, eyes wide open while Iris tired to be more composed but was dragged down due to Steve.

"Whoa!" Steve yelped.

In the eyes of Steve, the...thing that suddenly showed up behind them was like those monster girls that he often faced when he played the occasional offline RPG on his Foundation-issue limited-access PC.

She (judging from the not-small chest and midriff) had a HUMONGOUS purple scorpion tail on her back, purple-dragon wings attached to her head like horns and elf ears. In fact, she seems to be covered in purple: purple twin tails, light purple lining on her clothes and the aforementioned tail and wing-horns.

"Ah, Manticore. You and Platinum, restrain those two," the rat woman said.

8:13 PM

Lu took the opportunity to attempt to get the red teenage wolf-girl off his back by yanking his left arm from underneath his body and using it as leverage but the blade was too fast and embedded itself mere millimeters from his pinkie. "Shit!" he cursed.

That got the attention of the leader. She walked up to Lu and said, "Red, get off the man. But go for the kill if he tries anything stupid."

The fuck, Red? As in... Red Riding Hood?, Lu thought.

The girl on his back obliged and Lu stood up, careful not to go for his sidearm. He may be ex-specops but he knew when he was outmatched. This was one of those times.

"Who are you, and why are you with Operator Firewatch?" the leader asked.

"Well...it's a long story...so; Platinum, Manticore, Red and...you must be?" Lu asked with a small smile even though he knew that she could only see her reflection off the visor.

"Scavenger. Now, I ask you again? Who. Are. You. Three?" Scavenger asked with a hint of venom.

"We're travelers. My name is Lu. The girl's Iris and the guy's Steve. We got ambushed by some Kaimerizan bandits and most of our companions died. Then she saved us from them. Apparently the leader was the one who destroyed her village." Lu concocted a story of half-truths. It had to hold for now.

"Then why are you following her? Should you not part ways?" she asked back.

"To be fair...we have nowhere else to go. Our companions were the only ones who knew the terrain well. In fact, we three have decided to start over again...and we heard that RI accepts anyone willing to help. That's why we followed Firewatch back." he further bullshitted. The visor certainly helped to mask his eyes.

"Hm...is that so? Then why should we trust you? You could be saboteurs for all we know." Scavenger further quiped.

"Well...we outnumber Firewatch three to one and she's still here. In addition, we have passed through Dewville. Carol, the village head, can vouch for us." Lu replied back quickly.

"Yes, I can verify his story. They are indeed travelers." Firewatch added, to his surprise.

A moment of slience.

8:14 PM

Hm, Scavenger thought, according to , Firewatch's only reason to go AWOL is if she can get her chance to enact revenge on the ones who killed her people...and nothing else. We'll have to do a more through questioning when we get them back to Rhodes Island though.

"...very well then. But I hope I don't have to regret this..." Scavenger sighed. "Follow us. We'll be keeping an eye on you all...so don't try anything stupid."

Day Ten

4 km from the nearest major Ursine city, Chernobog

12:00 AM

"Hey Scav, message from Dr. Kal'tist," shouts Chu as he hands a tablet from the small rear window to the back. "Seems like change of plans!"

"Huh, really? Alright, let's see what we got..." Scavenger muttered as she flicked and dragged across the screen "...mmm...okay, people! Looks like we got a new mission. Quincy, head for Chernobog."

"Blimey! Cherno?! You do know it's a bloody warzone, not to mention all those Originium that will be all over the city!" Quincy replied back with a hint of worry, which alarmed the SCP trio.

"Yes, but orders are orders. Besides, most of the gas will have dissipated by now...speaking of orders, looks like we shall have to infiltrate the southern government archives and grab...files from Cabinet 24 of Row 6 of Repository 3. Very specific...go in, get out. Shouldn't be too difficult if we are efficient about this."

No plan survives first contact, thought Lu as the truck slowly roared towards the city.

Author's Notes: To the people of : I have returned.

Definitely not paraphrasing McArthur's famous line.

Anyway, I shall return to my regular schedule of an Act every Sunday, but since this is going to be a big Act; this shall be split into two parts.

UnderpaidMook